TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- City officials on Tuesday declined to fulfill a request by representatives of Mapco Mart to expedite their alcohol license application process ahead of a planned opening at a new store.

Damon Bail, director of operations for Mapco Express Inc., and Channing Phillips, director of new store development for the company, asked the City Council during its pre-council meeting for an exception that would allow the company to sell beer and wine at a new location off Alabama Highway 69 at Bear Creek Road by Dec. 28.

The company, after submitting forms three weeks ago, has not received the required FBI background checks for its core officers that would complete its application. Upon submitting the background checks, the company could then receive a letter from the city to advertise the license request and present its case before the City Council seven days later.

The problem is that an FBI background check could take 65-90 days, Mapco representatives were told by the district manager who applied for them. Mapco officials found out last week that they might have missed their window to receive an ABC license before the year ended due to the council's next meeting being held on Jan. 8, Phillips said.

Bail and Phillips visited the council with local attorney Cam Parsons in hopes of receiving a temporary license or having a new ordinance passed that would make the application process easier for publicly traded companies like Mapco.

Parson said the council might want to reconsider how the application process works.

"I think the city should revisit its policy on requiring FBI background checks because of the time that it requires, particularly of companies like Mapco, Publix, Circle C or any regional or national company such as this," Parsons said.

Mapco, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based company with around 400 stores located throughout the Southeast and three in Tuscaloosa County, is in the process of opening four locations including the new Tuscaloosa store on the same timeline. The other municipalities did not require background checks during their application processes, Parsons said.

Parsons added that the Mapco Mart on Oscar Baxter Drive, a store that the city has allowed to sell beer and wine for about 10 years, has not had any alcohol offenses.

Vincent Brown, the city's revenue enforcement manager, said the company's file would have to be complete before it could advertise its application and appear before the City Council for the license for the new store.

"As it stands right now, your application is not ready to be presented to the council, simply because of the background check not being a part of it," Brown told the Mapco representatives. "The other aspect of it is that the advertisement that's required has to take place seven days prior to it being presented to the City Council."

City Attorney Tim Nunnally said a temporary license was not possible, and that expediting the approval process would require an ordinance change, a policy move he said he could not support in such a a rush.

"I couldn't recommend that we make a quick change to our alcohol application process on a few hours' notice," Nunnally said.

Bail and Phillips said it could be another 65 days before the FBI background check comes back, which means it could be February before they could advertise and begin the process for approval for its license.

Phillips said Mapco has 25 current employees hired for the store and has been training them as the company aimed for a 2012 opening to meet requirements for its investors.

Bail said the beer and wine license is important to the store, citing the "catastrophic nature of opening without what we need to open correctly."

City code currently requires an FBI background check for the application, a requirement that used to be an ABI check. The council changed the requirement for a more thorough check after seeing issues with applicants coming in from other states.

Parsons said he thinks the city needs to look at amending its policy to grant exceptions to publicly traded corporations that pose little risk and that are under strict scrutiny from their boards and investors.